A Foolproof Plan
by Awakening5
Summary: Ginny is fed up with boys and just wants to be left alone. A plan is hatched-Ginny needs a fake boyfriend. But who will it be? HG fun and fluff!
1. The Foolproof Plan

Chapter One: The Foolproof Plan

Harry stared deep into the burning fire. He tried to keep his eyes from the red-hot coals to avoid damaging the retina, but he couldn't help but gaze at the light as it flowed in a beautiful dance. The colors entranced him, setting him at ease with the added element of heat soothing his sore body. He was so lost in his reverie, he had not heard an exasperated Ginny enter the Common Room until she came and sat across the fire and loudly harrumphed.

Harry shook his head, bringing focus back into his eyes and looked up at her, smiling lightly, amused. Her face was flushed and her hair slightly askew. She stared into the fire, though the anger with which she glared could not have been more different from Harry's meditating gaze.

"A knut for your thoughts?" Harry asked, both curious and apprehensive.

Ginny's glare rose to Harry, who immediately lifted his hands in fearful defense. "Only if you want a knut, of course…"

Her eyes narrowed, but Harry could tell she had lightened up and would soon be ranting in her usual way.

"There are people dying out there, Harry!"

_Unexpected start,_ Harry thought to himself. So was her anger directed at the war? He nodded at her and raised his eyebrows, prompting her to continue.

"I don't have any right to be upset about any of this," she continued. "But here I am, pissed off at the world because a few boys are being stupid! So, now I'm adding guilt to my annoyance."

"Well, maybe you are justified in your annoyance and anger," Harry offered, helpfully. "What did they do?"

"They won't stop asking me out!" Ginny all but shouted, exasperatedly.

Harry paused for a moment, his breath catching in surprise. He ran her words through his mind again, trying to follow.

"So you're annoyed, upset, and angry because boys like you to much?"

Ginny nodded, her eyebrows raised high. "Yea…that sums it up."

Harry frowned and looked at Ginny sympathetically before responding, "Yea, you should feel guilty. People are dying out there, Ginny."

Ginny sighed dramatically and shook her head. "I'm a terrible person," she said simply. "But I'm so sick of it. I get out of a year-long relationship with Dean, and within two weeks, every guy whose voice has dropped is cornering me at every possible time of the day. It's past eleven, Harry, and I was stopped two times on my way back from detention. A detention that I got, mind you, from being late to class because of boys talking my ear off in the hallways. I'm sorry, John Stevens from Leeds, but I don't care that you just got out of a relationship and your heart is ready for mending!"

Harry smiled widely at Ginny. "You know, most girls would kill to be in your place."

Ginny let out another strange noise proclaiming her frustration. "And that only adds to it, Harry. I often walk in the hallways with Luna…and time after time, I turn away these guys while she just gets ignored. It's so awkward and I feel so bad for her! She's a pretty girl. She's just a bit…"

"Magoo!" Harry finished.

Ginny nodded solemnly. "Magoo. Yes. Thank you, by the way, for taking her to Hogsmeade. She doesn't fancy you or anything, but she really enjoyed the date. She felt very special."

Harry chuckled. "It should be me who is grateful. I've never had so much fun. Did you know butterbeer has Knarckle feces in it to give a slight buzz to the consumers while avoiding the age restriction placed on alcohol?

Ginny's face screwed up in a painful expression. "No, Harry. And I didn't want to know that, either. Luckily, if it came from Luna, it can't be true."

"Cross your fingers," Harry said, making the motion himself. "So, what's the game plan?"

"Game plan?" Ginny questioned.

Harry sat up in his chair and leaned forward, the fire warming his face even more. The light danced off Ginny's hair, doubling the already plentiful shades of red with which it shone. "A beautiful, funny, smart witch like you who doesn't want to be in a relationship—it doesn't go together. You either need to give off an undesirable quality—not unlike the utter selfishness and inconsideration you are showing now," Harry added sarcastically, to which Ginny nodded her head sadly. "—or else you need to get a boyfriend. That's the only way you can stop them asking."

Ginny looked thoughtful for a moment. "You make some valid points. What do you have in mind?"

"Well, how have you been rejecting these guys? Hard and blunt?"

Ginny cringed and leaned back in her chair. "This morning I told a guy I would love to go out with him, but was getting a cold, so I would need a rain check."

Harry closed his eyes and shook his head dramatically. "This is not good, Gin. So not only is every pubescent and hormonal boy at Hogwarts after you, but they all think they have a chance?"

Ginny's eyes widened as hopelessness filled her. "I can't be mean to them! I can't tell them I'm not interested…it would hurt too much!"

"You're hurting them more this way!" Harry responded. He was very serious, but was speaking in a lighter tone to keep Ginny from beating herself up.

"I know! I really do understand that, Harry. And it's easy to sit here and claim that. But in the moment it is so hard to reject them outright. Having to look them in the eyes and…I can't do it."

"So, being mean is out of the question. So there goes one solution. How about ugly? Can you be ugly?"

Ginny glared at Harry. "Of course I _can_ be ugly, Harry."

Harry raised his hands defensively again. "I just haven't seen it, so I didn't know!"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Thanks," she said sardonically. "I could stop putting on makeup, chew with my mouth open, and loudly proclaim to anyone within shouting distance when my period is, yes. But I wouldn't be able to live with myself doing it. I've got to be me, and be able to look in the mirror each morning and be happy. I don't think I could keep it up without getting depressed."

"Okay," Harry said, grateful for the honesty. "For the record, I'm grateful you don't parade your period around."

"You are welcome."

Pensive silence pervaded for a long moment before Harry concluded, "You can't be mean, you won't be ugly…you've got to get a boyfriend."

Ginny sighed loudly, for what Harry hoped would be the last time. "Harry, that's what I'm trying to avoid! After I ended things with Dean, I realized I needed some me time. You have no idea what toll a relationship going nowhere has on a girl. He wasn't that in to it. I wasn't that in to it. Secrets and lies start, feelings get hurt, and by the end of it, I was emotionally drained. I'm not ready to go through any of that again."

Harry nodded. "Then just get a fake boyfriend. Tell people you have a boyfriend. You can say he doesn't go to Hogwarts. Maybe he lives in Hogsmeade."

Ginny considered this for a moment. "I don't know…I think the lie would come back to haunt me. Not only will I be lying, but completely fabricating a human being. I think I would feel worse guilt than I do from caring about all of this in the first place."

Harry didn't quite understand why she would feel guilty. It's not as though it was a real person she would be hurting. But, he admired her integrity anyway.

"No…a fake boyfriend won't work, either." There was a pregnant pause. Harry watched Ginny's face as she stared into the fire again. Slowly, he saw her eyes light up and a smile come to her face. She slowly looked up at Harry. "Unless…"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Unless?"

"Unless I find someone who _wants_ to be my fake boyfriend."

Harry leaned back in his chair. "I suppose that would work. So you don't mind lying about a fake person…but it's fine to lie about a real person?"

"Well if he is okay with it, then it wouldn't really be a lie. We would be a couple for all intents and purposes, but we wouldn't _really_ be one. Behind closed doors we wouldn't talk about our feelings or snog. We would do our own thing and be single. But to the public, we would hold hands as we walked through the halls. When we studied, we might do it at the same table. But we wouldn't have to care about the other person."

Harry smiled bemusedly at her. "Good luck finding a guy who is game to do that. Plus it has to be believable, so you can't just ask Colin to fake it. After all, everyone knows he's gay."

Ginny smiled. "I can think of a guy."

Harry shook his head in disbelief. "You mean you can think of a guy who is straight; who is good-looking, charming, and smart enough for the people to believe he caught _you;_ who is perfectly fine with not being able to snog you when he feels like it, but have the obligation to walk you to classes whenever he is able; and who is capable of keeping a secret that big for as long as you want him to?"

Ginny nodded emphatically before answering every one of his conditions. "I can think of a guy, who I assume is straight, he's gorgeous—chased by many of the girls in the school, himself—funny, and smart enough to catch me. It will be especially obvious because I used to have an infamously public crush on the kid. He won't want to snog me or get emotionally invested in my life due to some heroic notion of keeping me safe from his enemies. And he'll be perfectly willing to walk me to classes when he's available because he is only at the school in actuality a few days each month when he's not off chasing the aforementioned enemies with Dumbledore! Finally, this guy has been keeping secrets infinitely times bigger than this for much longer than the short time I will be asking."

Ginny sat smugly as Harry sat petrified, shaking his head back and forth emphatically. "No. No…No."

Harry paused before adding for good measure, "No."

Ginny started nodding. "It's foolproof, Harry!"

"What do you mean, foolproof? That won't work at all!"

"And why not?" Ginny asked.

Harry racked his brain, but could not actually come up with too many concerns. "Won't that be weird for you?"

Ginny shrugged. "Not really. It's fake, after all. Would it for you?"

"Yes," Harry responded immediately. "Think about what Ron would say! And at Christmas, what will Fred and George do to me!"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Fine, we'll let Ron and Hermione in on it. I'm sure Ron will be happy keeping me off the market for a while. And as for Fred and George…this doesn't have to last long. Christmas is nearly two months away. I highly doubt I'll need that much alone time. And if I do, we just won't tell my family. No big deal."

Harry contemplated this for a long time. He looked at Ginny, who gave him a very hopeful look. Harry cared for her deeply. After Sirius' death, she had become a true friend. She helped him through his mourning, and over the summer, she reminded him to have fun. His entire sixth year, she was there for him when he needed a pick me up. She always made him laugh and desire to be better. She was one of the reasons he had accepted his fate and determined to face Voldemort with such determination.

It was Harry's turn for a deep sigh. Afterwards, he spoke solemnly. "Ginny, you've always been there for me. Now it's my turn to return the favor." She started to squeal happily and stood to give him a hug. He held up his hand to stop her momentarily. "But the _second_ this affects our friendship in any way, I'm out."

Ginny nodded. "Harry, I care about you too much to let a relationship change that." Harry chuckled and opened his arms. She hugged him fiercely and whispered a thank you.

After a moment, Harry recalled what Ginny said earlier. He looked down at her and said with indignation, "And of course I'm straight!"

Ginny looked up with mock confusion. "I said I assumed you were."


	2. Selling It

A/N: I'd like to thank everyone for the great reviews! As rewarding as it is to see the 'favorites' and 'followings,' there's something very special about a review, so thank you!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 2: Selling It

* * *

Ron's mouth dropped, and he stared at Harry with emotionless eyes. "Fake boyfriend?"

Harry nodded slowly. "Mmhmm…"

"And you're doing this…why?"

"Well," Harry began. "Like I said, Ginny just wants to be single for a while, but doesn't have the heart to turn the plethora of boys down. So I agreed to do this to put an end to their asking."

Ron shook his head. "No, Harry. Why are _you_ doing this," Ron corrected, placing emphasis on the word 'you.'

Harry looked confusedly back at Ron. "I'm her friend, Ron. And I'm the only person that it makes sense to do this with, anyway."

"You're her friend," Ron repeated, standing up from his bed and walking to his dresser. They were alone in the dorm room, the other three bunk mates having gone to breakfast already. "And that's it?"

"Yea," Harry said, still confused. "I want her to be happy. And if you could have seen her last night…"

"Yes, I'm sure she was quite worked up," Ron said hastily. "But was it all an act?" Ron pulled a shirt over his head and looked at Harry with raised eyebrows.

"An act…what are you on about?"

"Come on, Harry," Ron said as if he was talking to a five year-old. "It's no secret that Ginny was crazy about you for years."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yea, for years…years _ago_."

"I'm just saying…"

"Just saying what? That Ginny concocted a plan for me to think that she was miserable being asked out by a bunch of guys, so that I—me, Ron—would come up with the idea of a fake boyfriend, which would result in us occasionally holding hands, which would end with us falling in love? Is that really what that dense head of yours is thinking?"

Harry looked incredulously at Ron as he answered. "It's called inception, Harry, and it's not that far-fetched given Ginny's penchant for mischief and the weird relationship you two already have…friendship you call it. Ha!"

Harry sat back on his bed, taken by surprise. "What's wrong with our friendship?"

"It's weird, Harry. You two constantly look at each other and talk to each other like you are the only people in the room. You give each other incredibly blunt compliments that no platonic relationship should contain. I'm left wondering if you have an incestuous sibling love for each other, or if you're gay, Harry."

Harry guffawed loudly before responding. "Why do people keep saying that? And no, it's not weird. She's a good friend, and I let her know that she's pretty, Ron. What's wrong with that? She is a pretty girl; even you can acknowledge that."

"First of all, that's not all you say. And you do so without any end goal of being with her. You're just complimenting her like her girl friends do. Whereas when _most_ guys say something like that, it's because they'd like to take her out or to a broom closet. With you two, that's never even a possibility."

"And you're upset by this?"

Ron shook his head. "Oh, no. I don't mind that you're not daydreaming about my sister like that, Harry. I'm just pointing out that maybe you've led her on with your very strange friendship, and she sees no other way of getting through this wall you've put up."

Ron bent down to put on his shoes while Harry looked pensively at the wall. What if Ron was right? But he would have seen through that, right? Ginny and he _did_ have a slightly different relationship, now that he thought about it…but it was one that they had built together. He had just as much of a right to be led on as she did, but wasn't. So why should she?

Harry concluded that Ron was full of it, and said, "Look Ron, I appreciate this new point of view, but I promise this is exactly what I said it was. Ginny and I are just friends, like Hermione and me."

Ron sighed and gave one last argument. "Harry, I know how you feel about Hermione. She's like a sister to you, right?"

Harry nodded, afraid of where this was going. "Would you even _consider_ doing something like this for her?

Harry's face screwed up in horror. "Aw! That's awful, Ron. Why'd you have to put that image in my head?"

"I just wanted to illustrate that this is _not_ like Hermione and you. I'm telling you, nothing good will come of this. I don't buy it. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Tired of his nonsensical conclusions, Harry decided to go on the offensive. "Who are _you_ to psychoanalyze my relationship, fake or real, with Ginny? Since we've brought her up, Ron, what's going on between _you _and Hermione."

Ron's face flushed, and his eyes darted around the room. His forcedly calm voice only added to his obvious discomfort at having the conversation turned on him. "Hermione and I have a _very_ mature friendship, Harry. I wouldn't expect you to understand…"

"Mature, huh? I suppose you do bicker like an old married couple…so if that's maturity I think you're right. Fighting one minute, bumbling poor compliments the next…very mature indeed."

Ron opened his mouth to retort, but nothing came out. He opened it again. "Shut up, Harry."

Harry and Ron soon made their way to the common room, where Hermione and his fauxfriend awaited. Seeing that there were other people in the common room, Harry narrowed his eyes at Ron before walking right up to Ginny and greeting her with a kiss on the cheek. It was not unlike the one he had given her the previous summer after his final stay at the Dursley's. Ron rolled his eyes as Ginny winked at him. She grabbed Harry's hand and they walked toward the portrait hole. Already, Harry could hear whispers from the few students who had seen their brief display of affection.

The four left the common room and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. Along the way, they heard whispers in the portraits and watched as the painted men and women went from frame to frame, following them and pointing out Harry and Ginny's interlocked hands. Harry didn't blame them. They were confined to these walls for all of their meaningless existence. What else did they have besides gossip?

"So, Harry," Ginny said softly, so no painting could overhear them. Harry could hear some light impatience in her voice, though. "Hermione here doesn't approve of our little charade."

Hermione gasped. "Ginny, don't…Harry, it's just not going to end well!"

Ginny continued, ignoring Hermione's shocked face. "She thinks that this is some elaborate ruse that you have put in my mind so that you can win me over. What do you have to say about that? Are you having me on, Harry?"

Hermione looked mortified and didn't look up at Harry, who had a small smirk on his face. It was time to turn their little judgment back on them. "Well, Ginny, I think Ron and Hermione are meant for each other." Now it was Ron's turn to look mortified, as his face turned a magnificent shade of red and he glared at Harry, his eyes dancing to Hermione to see her reaction. Her reaction was also one of terror, as her eyes widened and mouth dropped slightly. "You see, Ron thinks that this is _your_ ploy to make me fall helplessly in love with his sister."

Ron and Hermione seemed incapable of deciding whether to defend their beliefs or simply walk in silence, so the final result was that of much bumbling and muttering that had Harry and Ginny laughing at their expense. Harry was proud of himself for not dwelling on Ron's theory for long. It was bullocks, after all.

They finished their walk to the Great Hall, and Harry was only partially surprised that most of the students were trying to inconspicuously glance at the entrance to see if the rumors were true. The whisperings began immediately, and Ginny turned her head up to Harry and said, "From Gryffindor Tower to the Great Hall in record time. This must be big news."

Harry closed his eyes slowly and nodded. This was what he signed up for, Harry reminded himself. Steeling himself, he pulled Ginny along with him to Gryffindor table, getting mixed reactions of glowers and congratulations from girls and guys alike.

-0-0-0-

"I'm just saying you're not being very convincing, Harry."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm sorry I'm not the best fake boyfriend, Ginny. I'm sorta new at this whole false relationship thing…"

"Shut up, Harry," Ginny said simply. "All I'm saying is people are starting to talk. Saying we aren't as close as we should be."

"I'm gone a lot! And when I am here, I am always walking you to class. We sit next to each other all the time." Truth be told, Harry was surprised how little had changed over the past three weeks. He found that he had already been accompanying Ginny during her studies quite a bit, and they had quidditch and meals together long before the relationship had started. The only major change had been that they snuggled when they studied on the couch, and he held her hand in the hallways. It was nice. "Do they want me to be all over you or something?"

Ginny blanched before concluding. "No…look, just think about it. We've got to sell this. Something dramatic to quell their suspicions."

"They suspect this is a ruse?"

Ginny shook her head. "They suspect this is doomed. If I thought boys were annoying asking me out, then girls asking me if I'm feeling okay or neglected is worse." Ginny slung her backpack over her back before heading up to her room for the night. "Think about it."

Harry followed her with his eyes as she walked up the staircase and disappeared. He was startled when he heard Hermione speak to him. He had forgotten that she was studying with them on the other side of the fire.

"Trouble in paradise?" she asked, her voice flat.

"Ha, ha, ha, Hermione. Let me guess, 'you saw this coming?'"

Hermione shook her head. "Not this actually. I was expecting a much different result."

Harry braced himself before asking the inevitable question. "What were you expecting, Hermione?"

"One of two outcomes. One, the two of you realize your feelings for each other and the relationship becomes real in some dramatic and beautiful way. Or two, this puts a hitch in your already strange friendship, and you two have a falling out."

Harry was a little annoyed at the notion that he and Ginny had feelings for each other. More often than not, when people had congratulated them on their relationship, it was accompanied by a "finally," or "I just knew you two would get together." Harry shook his head and looked at Hermione, frustrated. "Okay…first, Hermione, you read too many romance novels." She looked up at him quickly and he nodded. "Yea, I've seen you with that _Twenty Hues of Blue_ book you try to keep to yourself. Who is that guy on the cover, anyway…Thor?"

Hermione blushed, so he continued, proud of himself. "Second, realize _what_ feelings? And third, why do you and Ron think we have a strange friendship? She's a good friend!"

Hermione let out a long breath. "I will not address your first point, as it is irrelevant. As for what feelings…well, I thought that was obvious. You've told Ginny how beautiful and enchanting she is so many times, you clearly feel at least that!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Okay, if you count seeing the obvious as feelings, then yes. I feel that Ginny is a tremendous witch: she's beautiful, smart, funny, powerful, and fiery. But I think good things about you, too, Hermione. You're brilliant, and a…" He faltered, the words stopping in his throat. He couldn't do it. Did he recognize that she was a pretty girl in her own way? She had certainly grown up and matured. Harry could see why several guys were attracted to her.

He looked up at her amused face, and finished his thought, not wanting to be proven wrong. "…a very pretty girl," he forced out.

Rolling her eyes, Hermione continued. "Right…so I must be hideous then."

"You're not, Hermione! I just can't say it out loud…it's weird!"

"Ha!" Hermione shouted at him, and Harry realized his blunder. She played him worse than Snape's attempt at the oboe last Christmas. "So it's weird to tell me I'm pretty, but you and Ginny are so comfortable that you know," her voice dropped to a whisper even though there was no one left in the room. "You know her cycle."

"She didn't want to upset me when she was short with me…" Harry lightly defended, though was soon to concede that they indeed had a strange relationship.

"Look, Harry," Hermione said. "Assuming you're not gay, the signs point to you deeply caring about this girl as more than a friend."

"Why do people keep saying that I'm gay!" Harry said. He stood up. "I'm not, and I don't have feelings for her in that way. I _can't_ have feelings for her in that way!" This slight change in phrasing was a new idea to him, and he wasn't too intent on dwelling on it.

Hermione's eyes lit up and Harry glared at her warningly. To her credit, she decided not to pursue it much further than saying, "I don't buy it Harry. Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Ron said the same thing," Harry said pointedly, both reflecting on it and sending a warning message to Hermione that if she kept annoying him, he would bring up the Ron-topic. Hermione nodded her understanding and farewell as Harry turned to head up the stairs. "Goodnight, Hermione."

Harry didn't want to think about his conversation with Hermione, so he went upstairs and expertly, from a year of training with Dumbledore, cleared his mind and compartmentalized his feelings and memories. He would store them away until a day that was more convenient to think about them. Before he drifted off to sleep, Harry noted to himself how much more difficult these thoughts were to keep boxed up and unattended to.

The following morning, a Saturday, found Harry and Ginny curled up on a couch together, resting from the week of work. "You smell nice," Harry commented lazily, as he took in a deep breath and was filled with the scent of flowers and strawberries.

"Mmm," Ginny said, coherently, as she acknowledged the compliment. "And you feel nice." She was lying on top of him, her hands resting on his chest. Harry would have blushed, but the compliment was so similar to the ones they had been giving each other for months that he didn't think twice about it. What he _did_ think about for a second time, however, was his conversation he had last night with Hermione. Usually, through his Occlumency, he would be able to push such thoughts out. But when triggered—like they just were by Ginny—this particular thought process came flooding out of his well organized mind and crowded his thoughts.

Was what they had strange? Were these _romantic_ feelings that he had for Ginny? He had convinced himself for so long that he was merely noticing the obvious that he didn't realize that perhaps it was especially obvious to him. Maybe he could tell her she was beautiful so easily because to him she was the most beautiful thing in the world.

Harry shook his head and went back to work putting those thoughts in the back of his mind. Fortunately, he was soon distracted by an owl flying through the common room window. It dropped a note off to him, and Harry immediately recognized the note as one coming from the headmaster. Ginny must have, too, because she sat up and had a worried look on her face.

He opened up the letter, and Dumbledore's tidy scrawl invited him to his office.

-0-0-0-

"All I'm saying, Professor, is that we should be on the attack a little more. We're always responding and reacting. I feel like a healer waiting at the bottom of a cliff when I should just go up the cliff and build a fence there, to keep people from falling off."

Dumbledore shifted his gaze from the shaking trees below to look at Harry. They were sitting in comfortable chairs high in a mountain cave opening, watching the Giants moving south far below them. Rain fell loudly around them, though the magic shield above them acted as an umbrella to prevent rain from hitting them. "Perhaps you don't yet have the tools or expertise to build an effective fence, Harry."

"So, I'm a healer but I can't build a fence? That doesn't make any sense." Harry knew Dumbledore was right. He was just being stubborn.

Dumbledore smiled at Harry's words. "Perhaps I should not have extended your analogy, then. Butterbeer?" The old man held up a bottle he had bought at the Hog's Head.

Harry hesitated, remembering what Luna had told him was in it, but shrugged it off and accepted the drink gratefully. He took a swig of the delicious drink and it warmed him from the cool autumn air.

"But surely we can do more than chase down Voldemort's many tentacles and chop them off one at a time? If we just slay the monster then the tentacles will stop moving!"

Dumbledore nodded. "Soon, it will be time to do just that. But for now we must weaken him, make him desperate so he makes a mistake. And when he does slip up, then we will be able to attack."

Harry nodded. "I know, Professor. Sorry if I'm impatient, but this whole inability to "live while the other survives" is sort of weighing on me. I'd like to go on living, you know."

Dumbledore's eyes began to twinkle. "I understand that you've begun to live a little, recently, despite the prophecy?"

Harry's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Why, you and Miss Weasley, of course. I was always wondering when that would happen. I was actually beginning to wonder if you were—"

"Don't say it!" Harry cut off. "No disrespect, Professor, but I am not a homosexual."

Dumbledore chuckled. "There is nothing wrong with being sure of your sexual orientation, Harry."

"Well," Harry began, "at the risk of making you wonder again, I must tell you that it is a fake relationship to keep the guys away from Ginny for a while."

"Is that what you're telling yourself?" Dumbledore laughed. "Very well. I must say, though, I don't think you need to obey the prophecy and stop living your life. There can be many interpretations to these things, and you can't hang yourself up on this elucidation. You should live your life, to spite Voldemort and this cursed prophecy."

They fell into companionable silence. For most of the summer and this, his seventh, year, Harry had been joining Dumbledore on many Order assignments and for personal training. Sometimes they spent days at a time tracking down Death Eaters and preventing attacks and plans to overtake the wizarding world. During that time he received very specific and useful training from the greatest wizard this century had seen, and his growing abilities could demonstrate it. Sometimes Harry missed the simplicity of his past years at school, but he was extremely grateful for the trust that Dumbledore had shown him.

He watched the Giants below as his thoughts drifted to Ginny, as they were wont to do. She wanted him to do something dramatic, huh? Something to make people think that they were in love. Harry questioned his own feelings at that moment and wondered just how much he did care for her. Was she just a friend as he claimed so often? Or could she be something more to him? Just as he was getting carried away with these thoughts, the trees stopped swaying with the Giants' movements. He looked up at Dumbledore, who nodded at him. They stood, vanished the chairs, and disapparated.

A few hundred feet below, in the dark forest, three Death Eaters knelt on the ground before six large and gruesome Giants. They held out a gift, a large raiment of clothing, which would forever keep its wearer warm. The Death Eaters well knew that the Giants would fight over and destroy the gift before long, but the Giants didn't foresee that. Instead, they accepted the offering in exchange for their services. A night on the town of Edinburgh. They wouldn't stay long. Just long enough to draw out the Order of the Phoenix so the attack on Diagon Alley would go more according to plan.

Suddenly, there was a loud _crack_ and two figures appeared. Bright waves of red light shot from their wands and within seconds, the unprepared and unprotected Death Eaters lay on the cold ground, unmoving.

Harry and Dumbledore turned to the Giants to assess the situation. Within seconds, the Giants' confusion had dissipated and they began swinging weapons and fists at the intruders. Harry had hoped they would simply be able to talk the Giants into submission, but that hope was long gone. Now, in order to ensure they didn't carry out Voldemort's plans, they would need to stop them.

Fighting Giants was tricky, because they held a special immunity to spells. Sure, with enough power and volume, you would be able to take one down, but in a battle of two on six, the fight would be draining. Instead, Harry and Dumbledore needed to use their magic to make the surroundings work to their advantage.

Waving their wands rapidly to make the Giants' weapons less dangerous should they hit their target, Harry and Dumbledore retreated a few steps, getting out of reach. "You take the weather," Dumbledore shouted. "I'll get the trees."

Harry shouted his acknowledgment and began waving his wand into the sky. The rain that pelted down at them soon curved its trajectory and aimed right for the Giants' eyes. Four of the Giants stopped dead in their tracks to shield their eyes, but two of the more frenzied monsters charged more aggressively and swung their weapons blindly.

As one neared him, a tree suddenly uprooted and swung a mighty branch at the Giant. The limb crashed against the Giant and Harry thought of a miniature Whomping Willow. Soon, several trees were doing Dumbledore's bidding, and Harry was reminded of the wizard's greatness. He looked around to see how he could help and sent several boulders hurtling at the Giants who had been detained by the forest.

He was so busy knocking the Giants unconscious that he did not realize one of them was missing. In hindsight he would laugh at himself. How could he misplace a Giant? A Giant!

Nevertheless, the Giant did evade him, and soon he was struck by a club that was two times his size. The club had been charmed to be softer than a feather pillow, so the impact didn't necessarily hurt him. However, the Giant's brute strength had not been altered and the force of impact sent Harry hurtling twenty feet through the air, spinning wildly. He soon connected with an unenchanted tree, and he felt the wind leave him instantly before the side of his head whipped into the tree. He fell a few feet to the ground and tried to steady himself and catch his breath. He felt his side precariously and was relieved to see nothing would be broken or shattered. He felt blood trickle lightly down his cheek, but his head wound was not serious either.

He stood up and motioned to a busy but worried Dumbledore that he was fine. Still trying to catch his breath, he charged back at the Giant who had stopped to admire his work. He began launching charm after curse directly at the Giant's fat face. He saw them slowly start to take effect as the Giant became woozy on his feet and his face began to bloody.

Mustering up his strength, Harry released a final curse, and watched with satisfaction as the Giant fell slowly, twenty feet to the hard ground.

With the other Giants restrained and soon knocked out by rocks to the face, Harry and Dumbledore went to work obliviating the unshielded goons. They would return home the following morning, not knowing why they had traveled south.

"Are you alright, Harry?"

Harry smiled ruefully. "I'll be just fine. How did I lose track of a _Giant_?"

Dumbledore chuckled lightly. "Well, it's back to Hogwarts, then. Good work today."

Harry nodded and the two apparated to Hogsmeade where they began the walk back to Hogwarts. Harry limped lightly, realizing his leg had taken a harsh blow on the tree. He considered the rest of his appearance as well throughout the long walk: soaked to the bone, blood spattered across his face, and wand out dramatically.

Dramatically.

Harry got an idea and grinned up at Dumbledore as they neared the Hogwarts front door. "What time is it?"

"I imagine its dinnertime just inside these doors," Dumbledore responded. "Why do you ask?"

Harry held up a finger, signaling to Dumbledore to let him open the doors. "I've got to do some selling. You know, something dramatic."

He turned and opened the doors, Aragorn style, with the enormous slabs of wood swinging wide and crashing into the walls on the other side. Lightning flashed behind him as he looked inside to see the whole Great Hall looking up at him in shock. He marched forward, looking only at one person. She sat at the Gryffindor table, just as surprised to see him in such a state as everyone else. As he neared, she stood slowly, and Harry pulled her dramatically to him and captured her mouth with his.

Harry had kissed girls before. First there was Cho…and that was awful. His sixth year, he had briefly dated a Hufflepuff girl named Josie Anders. They kissed many times and it had been nice.

But once Ginny had gotten over the shock and returned the kiss, Harry realized what he had been missing all this time. Her kiss was passionate, her lips moving sensually on his own. Her hands had gone up into his soaked hair, sending trapped water down their faces. Harry's mind completely shut off as he let sheer joy fill him. When they finally released after several long moments, Harry pulled back to find Ginny's face wet and flushed, her lips slightly swollen. She just stared into his eyes in shock.

"Dramatic enough?" Harry whispered, winking. Ginny speechlessly nodded, and sat back in her chair slowly, her mouth slightly open.

Harry glanced back at Dumbledore who smiled widely and Harry finally realized what he had done, and how he felt. The Great Hall was muttering loudly and glancing up at him in awe. A sickening feeling entered his stomach as he realized his great error. This was all he needed to answer his earlier questions as to whether or not he had feelings for Ginny. He felt for this girl, and that kiss would forever be the proof of it. And he could not undo it. He registered that students all around him were staring at him and talking about him, but he couldn't hear a bit of it. And as much as he would have liked to blame it on the injury to his head, he knew that was not the cause. Instead, it was the overpowering feeling and thought that he had just messed up everything that pushed all other noise out.

"I've got to get to the hospital wing," Harry said to his friends who sat together at the table. He looked down at Ron and Hermione who had indiscernible emotions on their face. He leaned down and spoke softly so only they could hear him. "You warned me…didn't you?"

Their mixed emotions were replaced by only one. Sympathy. They both nodded at him sadly as he straightened and limped towards his old friend, Madam Pomfrey.

* * *

**Moonlight2007: **I'm glad you liked the portrayal! I hope this chapter continued that. Let me know what you think!

**Guest:** To the guest who reviewed, I thank you! Humor is one of the hardest things to write because the way I hear it in my head is fun, but I can never be sure if that voice carries over to the reader. Thanks!

**DiaryofTales: **I toyed with it being a secret from everyone, but as you can now see, Harry's going to need a little emotional support. It just fit the story and characters better to have them in on it. Thanks for the review, though, and please give me your thoughts on how things might have played out if they didn't know.

**DanielWhite: **Now what gave you that idea? The unabashed fluff, or the fact that they are obviously in love? Thanks for the review!

**turquoiserainlilies: **Not half as awesome as your review! Thanks!


	3. One of Two Outcomes

**A/N: Things are about to get ****_real_**** up in Hogwarts! Hope you have a fun time. And as always, please leave me a review of what you like, questions/suggestions you might have, and anything you want, really!**

Chapter 3: One of Two Outcomes

"What was it you said, Hermione? You saw one of two things resulting from all of this?"

Hermione nodded, reaching out to grab Harry's hand. She had followed him straight to the Hospital Wing after he left the Great Hall. Harry wasn't sure if it was her desire to comfort him, or her desire for the drama that was sure to ensue. Hermione loved drama. Harry assumed that's why she liked Ron despite all he had done to annoy and insult her—it was never-ending drama between the two.

After Madam Pomfrey had looked him over and cast a few healing charms on him, Hermione sat at his side.

In a bed across the room lay a moaning Pansy Parkinson. Apparently, she had had an accident in her Potions class earlier that day, and the only cure for the pain was to sleep it off. So she slept soundly…soundly in that she was making strange sounds while sleeping.

Harry continued his question to Hermione. "Either we realize our feelings for each other and we fall in love or the strangeness of the relationship affects our friendship?"

Hermione smiled warmly at him. "Yes, Harry. On the plus side, I think you're well on your way to the former."

Harry shook his head vehemently, and waited for a particularly loud screech from Pansy to end before replying. "This can't happen, Hermione."

Hermione slapped his arm lightly. "Of course it can. I think Ginny is just as smitten as you are."

"You do?" Harry responded hopefully, hating himself for caring.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, Harry. It's as obvious as your feelings for her are. Besides, don't you know why she and Dean broke up?"

Despite himself, Harry continued the conversation. "Ginny said neither of them was feeling it anymore."

Hermione nodded. "Yes, and you're the reason why."

Confusion and surprise filled Harry. "Me? What did I do?"

Hermione sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you that your friendship with that girl is weird? I don't blame Dean for filling insecure about his relationship with her. In many ways, you were closer to his girlfriend than he was."

"But we never did anything!" Harry responded adamantly.

"Oh, but you did, Harry. You've borne your heart to that girl on multiple occasions—opened up about things that _I_ don't even know. You make her feel like the prettiest girl at Hogwarts. You were a higher priority to her than Dean was. Sure, she never cheated on Dean with you in the physical sense. But you were more of a boyfriend to her than Dean was."

As if to emphasize Hermione's point, Pansy howled long and hard into the quiet air. Harry ignored her, and wanted to argue with Hermione, but decided he wouldn't be able to win. After all, even the closed off and bitter way in which Dean treated him supported her point. Instead, he shook his head and held up his hand to prevent her from continuing. "What allegedly happened with Dean is not the point, Hermione. I'm saying this is not good. For either of us."

"What do you mean? You two are perfect for each other!" Hermione glared incredibly at him.

"Oh really?" Harry asked, his voice flat. "You think that the world's most powerful and evil wizard's number one target is good for someone? Hermione, if Voldemort gets his hands on her, I'll never forgive myself!"

Hermione rolled her eyes again, and Harry was starting to get really annoyed at it. "Stop your tragic hero sob story Harry. You don't make sense. You're 'dating' her right now! Voldemort doesn't know that it's fake, and so she's a target anyway. Nicely done, there."

Interrupting their conversation, Pansy loudly muttered, "Mmm, Draco, not so hard!" in her sleep. The words echoed through the room.

"Ew," Harry said, looking up at her bed. He turned his attention back to Hermione and resumed their conversation. "I thought this through, Hermione. Ginny said our 'relationship' wouldn't last more than two months. Therefore, it will end before we ever leave Hogwarts grounds. She'll be safe while we're in a relationship here at Hogwarts, and she won't be a target when she's no longer safe here."

Hermione just shook her head, and Harry had the suspicion that she wasn't buying any of it. And he had to admit that he could come up with a couple of counter arguments to his own statement, so he changed tactics. He was frustrated how many arguments he was losing. He needed a win. "Besides," he continued, "this isn't just me being a 'tragic hero.' I have a duty to perform. You know the prophecy as well as I do, Hermione. I can't be worrying about this! I can't be in a real relationship, especially with someone I care about so much. I won't be able to focus on the larger plan, the more important outcome of my life."

Sadness replaced Hermione's incredulity. She looked at Harry with tears forming in her eyes. "Is that really how you think of your life, Harry? Like you're some chess piece destined to put the king in checkmate, even if it costs you everything?"

Harry didn't respond, so Hermione continued, over the steady groaning filling the chamber. "Your happiness matters, Harry. Your choices matter. You aren't just a cog in a great machine that was built and programmed at your birth. You get to live how you want."

"Neither can live while the other survives, Hermione," Harry quoted at her. "And I have to agree if only because I will not be able to defeat him if I don't give it my all."

They heard the door open, so Hermione quickly gave her final words. "Well, maybe you aren't giving your all if you don't let us, and Ginny, in!" Hermione stood and left without a goodbye, which Harry thought odd. Why would she just leave on that cryptic note? One shouldn't just end a conversation so abruptly.

Giving the moaning Pansy a weird look as she walked into the room, Ginny walked purposefully over to Harry. She passed by Hermione, who didn't even look back when Harry shouted to her, "Well, goodbye then, Hermione!"

As Ginny sat down, Harry had to ask, "Is it normal to get up and leave after visiting with someone for a while and _not_ say goodbye?"

Ginny looked thoughtful—if not a little confused—for a moment, "I guess that depends on what her last words were."

Not wanting to divulge that particular information, Harry kept it general. "She just gave me some cryptic advice and stood and left. I mean, I've seen things like that some muggle movies before…but people don't _really_ do that, right?"

"She probably thought she was being profound and wanted to leave a lasting impression on you."

Harry thought about it for a moment. "That does sound like Hermione…but still odd."

"How are you feeling, Harry?" Ginny asked suddenly, a little worry showing on her face.

"Not great," Harry answered truthfully, though he wasn't referring to the injuries he received from the Giants.

Ginny seemed slightly taken aback that Harry had given an honest answer. "What did you and Hermione talk about while I was being mobbed by love-sick girls about your entrance?"

Harry grinned at her. "Why do you ask? Jealous?"

Ginny huffed. "After getting a kiss like that, how could _I_ be the jealous one? I never knew you had it in you, Potter."

Harry took a mock bow before saying, "Well, you made it easy." Ginny blushed ever so slightly, and Harry found himself admiring her beauty anew despite what his brain told him. In addition, Harry realized how much better he felt now that she was at his bedside. All of his concerns seemed to fade away when she was around. That is, until he consciously realized this was the case, at which point he began freaking out about his feelings for her.

As Pansy began to roll violently in her bed and distracted Ginny's attention, Harry berated himself. Not minutes after he had explained that he couldn't get any closer to Ginny, here he was falling harder and harder for her. She was like a drug, and he couldn't get enough of her, despite knowing it wasn't good for him.

"What's wrong with her?" Ginny asked, motioning towards Pansy, whose blankets had been violently thrown to the floor in her shaking.

"I think she spilled some unfinished pain soother on herself, which has the opposite effect when it is incomplete. Turns out, she can't take the finished product as a cure or it will only intensify the reaction, so Pomfrey hit her with some powerful sedative so that she can sleep off the pain."

Pansy rolled right off the bed and landed with a thud on the floor. Ginny shrugged and looked back at Harry. "Looks like her subconscious can't escape it, though."

"Yea," Harry said, thinking of his own situation. "There's a lot of that going around."

-0-0-0-

Since he was young, Harry had found the law of precedents to be fascinating. He often watched in awe at how an action or thought, previously unaccepted, would become commonplace if a precedent was set.

All it took was for Aunt Petunia not to make Dudley finish his vegetables once, and now look at him! Dudley knew from his sixth birthday that all he had to do was whine enough, and his mum would cave. As a result, he now resembled the spawn of a blue whale and an elephant.

Malfoy had only needed to break the ice when calling Hermione a Mudblood, and since then it was accepted. Was the action ever condoned by the general public of the school? No. But it was accepted and even expected that some people would say it, and there wasn't much they could do about it.

Once again, a precedent had been set. Harry had kissed Ginny in front of the entire school. Now, it was expected of them to kiss by the students. And it was no longer strange for Harry and Ginny to do so, because it had already happened once. So why not again?

At first, it was a quick peck to appease the crowds as they departed to go to class. Harry remembered the first occasion well. Their second kiss had come about because of three fourth years staring at them outside of Ginny's Charms class.

"See ya," Harry had said to Ginny, and turned to leave. But Ginny squeezed his hand and motioned with her eyes that the three girls were looking expectantly up at them. "Oh," Harry had said. "Umm…."

He leaned in hesitantly and they kissed briefly before turning to leave. The girls squealed like only fourteen year-olds could, and Harry rolled his eyes. As he walked away from the situation, he reflected that he had only intended to kiss Ginny once. But now, that didn't look like a possibility.

This occurrence repeated several times before Harry admitted defeat and their kisses goodbye became habit. Beyond that, Harry found he was looking forward to them. He cursed himself inwardly for enjoying them so much and thinking about them when no one was watching.

Harry and Ginny were both private people, which Harry was both grateful for and disappointed in. This meant that their public kisses were very chaste (with the exception of one incredible good luck snog before the quidditch opener against Hufflepuff that the team sans Ron had called for). So Harry constantly longed for more with Ginny while acknowledging it was for the best that their relationship was limited to public display.

For her part, Ginny played the whole situation very cool. Harry was relieved that their friendship had not changed as a result of this new development. And that's exactly what kept Harry in the relationship instead of calling it quits as he said he would if it affected their friendship. His mind continually recalled Hermione's two outcomes: fall in love, or ruin their friendship. Harry desired neither at this point, so he tried his best to stay in the limbo of this false relationship.

But then it all changed one fateful night.

Ginny had put off her Potions homework until the night before it was due, and Harry offered to stay up with her until she finished it. She had reasoned that he didn't need to stay up any longer when the last student left the Common Room just after midnight, but he was persistent. Harry's seventh year was an interesting one, given his long and frequent absences from the school. Because of these absences, he wasn't required to take classes, and would instead receive personal instruction by the professors, and he was not given homework. Harry used this as an excuse as to why he could stay up with Ginny.

Of course, he really just enjoyed her company. But he wouldn't tell her or himself that.

When Ginny finished, she proudly set her quill down on the table and proclaimed, "And she's done it again! One and a half feet done the night before it's due!"

Harry chuckled. "I suppose this means you didn't learn any lessons about procrastination tonight?"

Ginny looked offended. "Of course I did. Put things off long enough and not only will you do the work in record time, but you'll have dreamy green eyes to look up to in between sentences!"

Harry laughed again. "Well, good. I was afraid this experience would do nothing for your character. Want to go grab a snack?"

Ginny checked her watch. "It's after three, Harry. And I have class at eight."

"So…yes?"

Ginny stared at him for a moment before she sighed and responded. "Yep."

They made their way to the kitchens, with Harry reasoning with her that the twenty minutes of sleep she was missing right now wouldn't do her much good anyway, and that memories were more important than attentiveness in class.

They enjoyed visiting the house elves and enjoyed the seasonal pumpkin pie even more. On the way back to Gryffindor Tower, the two had a brief encounter with Mrs. Norris that left them panting and bent over gasping for breath in front of an upset Fat Lady portrait.

"Waking me up at all hours of the night…" they heard her mutter as they clambered through the portrait hole. When they arrived safely on the other side, they burst into excited laughter at having evaded detection.

Harry shook his head as he caught his breath. "Does that cat just not sleep or something? I don't get it!"

When she caught her breath sufficiently, Ginny whined, "Great, now I won't be able to fall asleep for _another_ half hour after getting my heart beating like that."

They began walking toward the girls' dormitories. "Like my very presence doesn't already affect your heart like that," Harry responded cheekily.

They arrived at the base of the stairs, and Harry realized Ginny had not retorted with her usual sarcasm. She was looking down at her feet instead, and seemed to be lost in thought. Assuming she was tired and just wanted to go to bed, Harry quickly said, "Thanks for putting up with me tonight, Gin. Goodnight."

Perhaps it was that a habit had developed. Perhaps Harry had thought there was someone else in the common room that would think it odd if he didn't kiss her goodnight. Or perhaps Harry's subconscious really wanted to feel her lips on his. Whatever the cause, the result didn't change.

Harry quickly leaned in and brought Ginny's lips to his. After a brief and tender kiss, they separated just inches. Unable to resist the urge, Harry quickly closed that small gap again before he could tell himself not to.

Unlike their public displays of affection, however, this was no chaste kiss. Holding her face in his hands, Harry deepened the kiss, his tongue begging admittance into her mouth. She acquiesced as her hands went into his hair, gently rubbing his scalp. She made a small moan into his mouth which turned off any remaining thought that Harry had, and made him want to affect her the way she did him.

After several long moments, which were all too short for Harry's liking, they both pulled apart. Cognizant thought slowly began to return to Harry's mind as he gazed at Ginny's beautiful face. Her eyes were closed, her breathing haggard as it had been minutes earlier from escaping Mrs. Norris. As Harry began to realize what he had done, her eyes slowly opened—and Harry feared what he might see behind those eyelids. Her hands were now resting on his chest, which is where she initially looked. Then, slowly, her eyes drifted upwards and met his own.

Harry held Ginny around the waist, and they stared at each other for what felt like several minutes, neither wanting to make a move or speak a word for fear of what might happen. Harry berated himself, hating that he may have just ruined everything, all the while wanting to dive right back in and kiss her again.

Ginny breathed in as if to speak, but then let the breath out slowly. She wasn't going to be the one to break, Harry decided. Without thinking too much, and desiring to lighten the mood, Harry softly joked, "Whoops…no one here to convince…" He broke their gaze and looked around the empty common room, which suddenly felt cold and distant.

When his eyes returned to hers, he saw a pained expression on her face. She pulled back from him. "Yea…guess that's become a habit, huh?" She looked down at her feet and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Harry resisted the urge to pull her back to him and run his hand through her hair.

"Goodnight, then," Ginny said quickly, and walked up the stairs without looking back.

Harry didn't move for twenty minutes, just staring at the last few steps he had seen her on before she disappeared. He didn't sleep well that night. His thoughts were full of a red head and a fear that things would never be the same again.

-0-0-0-

"I guess what I'm saying is that I'm ready to date again…and thank you for your services…"

Silence followed. Harry realized there would be a consequence to his actions, but to have it happen on the very next morning—just four hours after he had kissed her—was unexpected.

"So…" Harry said, unsure of what to say. He could feel his heart breaking.

Ginny wouldn't look him in the eyes. "Yea. I've decided I've got to move on," Ginny said. She quickly gave an addendum to her statement. "You know, from my relationship with Dean…and deal with the guys out there."

Harry found it very difficult to know what to say. Should he tell her she wasn't ready to move on? That they needed to keep the façade up? That it shouldn't be a façade at all?

Instead, he lightly mumbled, "Right…if you're certain?"

"Yea," she said, not so certainly. She then looked up at him for the first time since their conversation began. "Unless you don't think I should?"

Harry wondered why she put the quaffel back in his field. He didn't want it. He couldn't do anything with it. It was a lose-lose situation for him. If he told her to stay with him, then his duty and her life would be compromised—and he didn't want either of those things to happen. If he told her to go, Hermione's prediction of their friendship being destroyed might come true.

"I can't say…I mean, it's your life. If you feel like you're ready?"

Ginny looked back down. "It looks like I am…"

He wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but the rumors of their breakup reached him just minutes later, confirming his fear. Harry supposed it was for the best, what with Christmas break arriving in two weeks. But those two weeks did not go as Harry had hoped.

It started out awkward, which is a word Harry hadn't used to describe his relationship with Ginny since his second year. When they spoke, it felt forced. Harry knew that on his part it was because he spent whatever conversation they had either wanting to hold her close or run away from her. They talked about the meaningless things they used to talk about, but now those things actually felt meaningless.

"And how's Charms going for you?" Harry asked a couple days after the breakup. They ate at the house table at dinner, and Harry had sat down by Ginny either out of habit or longing. Knowing Charms was Ginny's favorite subject, he decided on that as a safe discussion topic. Plus, it was something she could talk about for hours if he'd let her.

"Oh, fine, I suppose…" she responded, not for hours.

"Good…" Silence followed, and for the first time in years it wasn't comfortable.

"And how are your personal lessons going?" Ginny asked, her voice a little strained, and her words a little forced. "Getting all super-powered for Voldemort?"

Harry frowned. Normally, he would have smiled or laughed. He would have played along, and boasted his great power. Then Ginny would have made some snarky comment to bring him back to earth. Then they would laugh together. But this wasn't 'normally' anymore, and something in Harry wasn't clicking. Besides, Ginny likely would keep the charade going either, even if he tried to get it going.

"Fine, I suppose. Snape's a git as usual…"

"Right," Ginny said, and a little more silence followed. Harry wondered for the first time why they didn't have some music playing or something in the Great Hall. Surely with this many awkward teenagers having three meals a day in this room, someone would have thought it a good idea. Anything would be better than silence. "Well, good luck with it. I've got to go to the library tonight…"

"Okay," Harry said sadly. "See ya."

She stood up and left, with Harry watching her the entire way out of the Great Hall. He was surprised when Neville's voice shook him out of his clouded and confusing thoughts.

"Yikes…did you guys have a messy breakup or something? That was torture!" Harry looked quickly at Neville, who was wide-eyed and shaking his head.

"Thanks for being so sympathetic, Neville." Harry said sarcastically with an eye roll. "Your compassion for me about my breakup is really quite overwhelming."

Neville had the decency to look sorry. His words, however, did nothing to alleviate the pain that Harry felt for being unable to even converse with Ginny normally now. "Sorry, Harry. I guess I just can't believe you guys actually split! I mean, you were perfect for each other!" Harry winced—this was not the first time other students had told him as much. "I haven't seen you two so happy my whole time here at Hogwarts, and all of a sudden you end things? I don't understand it. One minute you are inseparable, and the next you can't carry on a conversation."

Being told the obvious did not put Harry in a good mood. So, like he often did when Ron tried to lecture him, Harry decided to turn the tides back on Neville. "Funny coming from the guy who can only talk about imaginary creatures with the girl he fancies." Harry tried not to come across as rude, but he heard a little malice in his own words.

"First of all, they are invisible, not imaginary!" Neville said defensively. "Secondly, Luna is not a great conversationalist, but we never sound like _that_."

Harry sighed, thinking back to his ugly conversation with Ginny. No fun banter, no sharing of thoughts and feelings, no…anything. "Yea…this sucks."

Neville patted his back. "What happened? I don't get it…"

"I don't either, Neville. Sometimes life is just confusing…"

Neville stood from the table. Before walking away, he said, "No, Harry. Life is generally pretty straightforward—we just choose to make it confusing for some reason."

Harry sat in silence for a moment, then he shook his head when he realized that Neville was leaving the dinner table. He called out to Neville, as the boy strode across the Great Hall. "Okay, well, see ya! Nice talking to you, too, Neville!"

Neville didn't look back, and Harry looked desperately at Lavender Brown just a few seats down from him. "He just got up and left. Is that a thing now? Do people really do that? What he said wasn't even super profound, and then he gets up and leaves without a 'see ya later' or 'goodbye?'"

Harry turned back to the retreating Neville, and shouted. "That wasn't even that profound!"

Turning back to a very mystified Lavender Brown, Harry resumed his one-way conversation. "Who does that? If that was an attempt at a dramatic exit, then it was a failure."

Lavender Brown looked confusedly at Harry and shrugged. Harry looked back at the retreating Neville, who was now leaving the Great Hall and let out scoff. "We choose to make life confusing," Harry muttered to himself. "What does that even mean?"

**Princess Luna of the NLR:** There's a hint of Neville/Luna for you! Hope you enjoyed it...

**Daniel White: **Yes, if only Harry would just accept it!

**Hogwarts1welshwitch: **I'm glad you feel sorry for Harry, because not a lot of people would. I certainly don't…the blind dummy!

**Midaoru: **Thank you kindly. Hope you enjoyed!

**Darkyus: **Thanks for the review…was the update soon enough?

**Bambi2297: **Thanks for the review! And as for why Harry was upset, if you didn't gather from this chapter, Harry believes that his life only has one purpose at this point: kill Voldemort. It follows, then, that when something unexpected pops up that could hinder that purpose, it needs to be stopped. So Harry is upset because he found someone he really likes, but thinks he can't be with them (for real).

**Horselovr171: **This is Harry's seventh year. Everything through OotP is canon, but then we obviously took a turn for Harry's sixth year. As for a Remus appearance, I hadn't planned one, but who knows what might happen?

**Guest: **I'm glad the joke landed with you. I've commented before, but I'll say it again: humor is the hardest thing to write because it sounds funny in _my_ head, but I don't know how the reader will read it. So I'm happy you've enjoyed the humor! Thanks for the review!

**Hptrump:** Very clever thought that the ending was a dream! Unfortunately, I was not so clever, and didn't add that dimension to Harry's psyche. Hope you enjoyed it regardless!

**MelGinnylover:** You are too kind! I only hope I can live up to your expectations!


	4. Something Isn't Right

**A/N: Thanks for the great reveiws and support. This, the penultimate chapter, was the hardest one to write for me. I suppose I don't like keeping Harry and Ginny apart. In fact, this chapter wasn't supposed to exist, but when I came to a confrontation between Harry and Ginny, their characters took the story in a different direction than I had planned. I'm perfectly fine with that, of course, because it means another chapter of drama and fun! Hope you enjoy...**

* * *

Chapter 4: Something Isn't Right

Quidditch practice had always been one of Harry's favorite times of the week. There really was no comparison, in Harry's mind, to how he felt on a broom. 'Free' was the best word he could use to describe it. Free from worries of school and evil-doing Dark Lords wanting his blood. Free from the restrictions gravity generally put on him. Free from everything, really.

But on this frigid, mid-December practice, he loved it for a different reason. When on a broom, hundreds of feet in the air, Harry and Ginny were Harry and Ginny again.

Harry blew his whistle into the cold air. The sun was out and shining, its radiation providing a nice contrast to the biting cold. Fifty feet below him, Harry's teammates began soaring up to meet their captain. He liked to hold their strategy training time high above the goalposts, so that he could merely point down below to make different plays clear in the minds of his team.

Soon, the team members were all hovering around Harry in a circle. He began instructing and complimenting them in turn.

"Nice maneuvering down there, Dean."

"Have you been practicing with a bludger on your own time, Jimmy? You're looking great out there."

"Ritchie, I need you to fly closer to the chasers. Slytherin won't be as soft with their hits as Hufflepuff was."

"Ron, you've never looked better."

Harry turned to face Ginny. He found it relieving that his words began flowing effortlessly. He hardly even thought about their recent struggles over the last week. "You're starting to come along down there, Ginny," Harry said, pointing down to where the rings stood.

"Phrasing," Harry heard Ron mutter, but didn't think much of it.

Harry, of course, was referring to a new play they had been working on for a while. "Thanks," Ginny replied. "It's a lot harder than it initially looked, and it was hard to swallow, but it's starting to feel really good!"

"Phrasing," Ron repeated, a little louder this time. Harry still didn't pay him and heed.

"That's good to hear," Harry responded to Ginny. "I've noticed you're still not shifting from side to side quickly enough." ("Phrasing…") It was key that she zig-zag at sharper angles to throw off her defenders, so Harry flew closer to her to comment on how to fix it. "Make sure you move your hands to the _end_ of the stick and handle it much tighter."

"Phrasing," he heard Ron say loudly, but he and Ginny were now so engrossed in the practicalities of flying that they didn't process what he was saying.

Ginny began to be excited about this new tip and offered her own thoughts on the play call. "That's a great idea! I was thinking about it, and I think you should come down if you're not finding the snitch at that moment."

Harry began nodding. "You mean as an additional distraction?"

Ginny mirrored his nodding, and pointed excitedly toward the goal posts where this particular play would be implemented. She made motions with her hands to gesture where Harry should fly, as she said, "Just slide in there hard and fast, then pull out. If you think you can manage, come right back in afterwards…"

"Phrasing!" Ron all but yelled.

Harry looked exasperatedly at Ron, who was red-faced with his mouth slightly open. Harry gave him a quizzical look before turning back to Ginny. "I'm all for trying new things…you don't think it would be too crowded with three of us in there together?"

Ginny was about to respond when the entire team shouted together, "Phrasing!"

Harry and Ginny both turned to look at everyone. "What are you saying?" Harry asked, upset at being interrupted.

Ron finally found a few more words in his vocabulary and said, "Would you just watch the way you're phrasing everything? It's awfully inappropriate."

Harry didn't realize, of course, all of the double entendres that he had spoken. Instead, he thought Ron was questioning the excitement and passion with which he discussed this new play with Ginny. The team had been taking it easy as of late, and maybe they wanted him to relax.

"Look," Harry said, glancing at each of his team members. "We beat Hufflepuff handily, okay? I admit it, we looked great out there. But I don't like the relaxed attitude we've had lately at practices. This is not a sure thing that we beat these other teams. They've both got some secret weapons, and a lot more talent than Hufflepuff had."

Harry sighed, and began speaking before Ron could interrupt to clarify his previous complaint. "I guess what I'm saying is that I don't want us prematurely ringing our victory bells, and ending up with a mess on our hands!"

Silence followed for a long moment, and Harry was glad that his team got the message, judging off of their wide-eyed expressions. But then they—including Ginny this time—collectively shouted, "Phrasing!"

The team was able to move past this incident and continue their practice. Harry was very pleased with his team's effort, and he and Ginny even stayed late working on her sharp cuts and feints.

Half an hour after everyone else had left, Harry and Ginny finally made their way towards the changing rooms together. They enjoyed a great conversation about the game they would have right after Christmas break.

"No, I saw that, too, Gin. Ravenclaw didn't beat Slytherin with speed, but by taking the game slow and not making mistakes."

Ginny nodded. "And they just waited for Slytherin to get frustrated and turn over the quaffle. It's tough, because we can't play _their_ game, but we need to adjust our own so they don't exploit our weaknesses like Slytherin. Dean has been known to make stupid decisions with the quaffle when given too much time to think."

Harry groaned. "If only I had three of you to play chaser for the team!"

Ginny laughed and swatted Harry on the arm. "Oh the other two are great! Besides, you couldn't handle three of me."

Harry smirked at her. "That may be the case, but I could think of a few things to do with three of you…"

Ginny blushed slightly, and glared at Harry. She calmly retorted, "Again…you couldn't handle three of me."

The new implications made Harry's heart beat a bit faster as his imagination tried to come up with the reasons why he wouldn't be able to handle her. "No," he said, trying to keep his voice even. "I have it hard to believe I could handle even one of you."

They finally made it to the changing rooms, where two doors stood to separate the boys from the girls. Harry looked at the doors and fear suddenly gripped him. What would happen once they changed out of their quidditch robes? Would things return to the awkwardness they had been experiencing recently? Harry didn't like that idea. He much preferred the long discussion and banter he was having with Ginny right here and now.

"Don't sell yourself too short, Potter. I'm sure you've got a couple of tricks up your sleeve," Ginny commented as she opened the door to the girls' changing area.

"Wait," Harry said impulsively. Ginny turned around, curious. "Ginny, I…miss this," Harry said, his own words sounding unsure to him.

Ginny closed her eyes and stepped out from the doorway, letting it shut behind her. She gave a soft sigh and replied in a patient tone. "What do you miss, Harry?"

Wishing he had thought this through, Harry was forced to speak. If only he had prepared a statement, some sure way to get their friendship back without endangering her or his mission to vanquish Voldemort. "I miss…well…I miss our friendship. I miss having fun with you and joking around…and…"

Ginny groaned loudly before turning on him, her voice raised and her patience lost. "No, Harry. I'll tell you what you miss. You miss our relationship." Harry made to interrupt her to say that that's exactly what he said, but Ginny quickly clarified, in very loud and upset voice. "No, Harry. Not our friendship. Not even our fake relationship, though we both may have enjoyed that as well. I refuse to believe you are so stupid or so blind not to have seen what's been going on between us.

"I didn't realize it, in my own denial and stupidity, until you _did_ become my fake boyfriend. But what I found, and surely you did too, is that we were always boyfriend and girlfriend! In everything but physicality and the title. Didn't you find it odd that almost _nothing_ changed when we starting 'dating?'"

Harry didn't respond, but admitted to himself that he had noticed as much.

"What you miss is being able to be completely open and honest with someone," Ginny said, her voice a little softer and her words a little slower now. "You miss being told you're great, and telling someone that she is, too, whenever you want. You miss…loving and feeling loved."

Ginny stopped for a moment, trying to compose herself. Harry didn't know what to say, or even what to think. Ginny spoke again. "What we were doing for these last two months…it almost worked. It almost worked because we weren't playing a part, really. We were finally putting the title onto what we had, even if it was a fake title. But something isn't right about the way it happened. And until we fix that, it can't keep happening."

Silence followed. A pensive, yet nervous, silence. Harry tried his hardest to wrap his mind around what Ginny had said. Surely she had admitted to having feelings for him. And a knowledge that he had feelings for her as well. On paper, it would seem so simple. But in Harry's mind, it was more complicated than ever. _Neither can live while the other survives_, Harry thought.

"Ginny…"

At his tone, Ginny's eyes closed in expected pain. "Harry," she interrupted quickly. "Tell me I'm wrong."

He looked at the hard, blazing look she occasionally got. Even without makeup on, looking slightly dehydrated from practice, and certainly emotionally worn out from their conversation, she was beautiful. And Harry never wanted to hurt her again. But he knew his duty to the prophecy, to the wizarding world, and to her future—and he needed to give it his full attention. If he couldn't limit their relationship to the degree necessary to fulfill his duty while simultaneously not hurting her, then we would just have to cut it off completely. Harry's resolve hardened to do what was necessary.

"You're not wrong, Ginny." Ginny's eyes opened. She looked validated, but not hopeful. "But you know me and my situation well enough to know what I've got to do."

Ginny laughed bitterly. "Yes, Harry. I know you well enough to know that this is what you _think_ you have to do. And I know that no arguing on my part will change that. Hopefully before long you'll discover that you're wrong." She leaned forward and grabbed Harry by the shoulders. "Don't make it too long, though." She kissed him gently on the cheek, smiled sadly at him, and turned and disappeared behind the door to the changing room.

"Phrasing," Harry said softly to himself as he struggled to push the pain from his heart.

-0-0-0-

Another week passed, and Harry found himself trying to avoid her. He supposed it was because of the sick feeling in his stomach every time he saw her and heard her voice. He was grateful and horrified that she was not seeking his company out either. He felt Hermione's prediction of losing their entire friendship coming true, but hoped that their feelings for each other were deep enough to outlast the war. Although, Harry realized with great fear that the war could last many years yet. For all he knew, he'd be an old man when Voldemort finally bit the dust and Ginny would be happily married with ten children. A vision played in his mind in which Ginny happily attended to her children when her faceless husband came home from work and kissed her sweetly.

This thought terrified him, of course, but Harry was determined to at least give her that future (along with the whole wizarding world of course) and knew what it would take from him to take down Voldemort. So he tried to distract his aching heart by throwing himself into training and the war effort. In reality, it was his training and the war effort that was distracted. Harry found it increasingly difficult to master new spells and dueling techniques when he practiced with Dumbledore and other teachers. He didn't make the connection between his newfound struggles and his personal life, however. If anything, he blamed himself for not committing to the duty more diligently sooner. Therefore, he concluded to close himself off even more so.

It got to the point where Harry was appreciative that Dumbledore didn't want him going to the Burrow again for Christmas. Something about making the train and Burrow a target and also having a mission to accomplish. Harry didn't really listen all that intently.

Before everyone left for break, Ron and Hermione briefly talked to Harry. They were more candid than they had been since before the 'break-up.' Harry supposed they hadn't wanted to provoke him to anger or tears. But apparently two weeks were long enough to get one's emotions under control, because they really let him have it before boarding Hogwarts Express.

Harry had rode down to the station with them. As they exited the threstral-pulled carriages and walked to the waiting train, Harry had noticed Ginny speaking amiably with some okay-looking sixth-year boy from Hufflepuff. Ron must have noticed the sour expression on Harry's face, because he asked, "What are you doing, mate?"

Harry felt that their friendship was far past the point where he could play stupid to delay the inevitable discussion. So instead of responding, 'what do you mean,' he instead shook his head and said, "I've really botched this one up, haven't I?"

Ron nodded when Hermione jumped in. "Look, Harry, we know your intentions are noble. But all you are doing is hurting each other! This won't help the fight against Voldemort!"

Harry's eyes darted back and forth between Hermione speaking and Ginny lightly hitting the boy's arm, flirtatiously. It made Harry want to attach one of Fred and George's new high-flying fireworks to the boy's robes, ignite it, and see what happened.

Harry shook his head. "Look, guys. I can't expect you to understand. You're not out there every other week like I am. I need to be focused. I need to know that everyone here is safe. Otherwise, I won't be able to do what needs doing!"

Ron just scoffed. "Ever the hero, Harry. Ever think that you need saving some times?"

Harry didn't think _he_ needed saving so much as the Hufflepuff who now put his hand on the small of Ginny's back and guided her towards the train. Harry's hand slowly went to his pocket and fingered his wand. He was trying to decide whether turning the kid into a pygmy puff or a mermaid would be more emasculating when he was saved by Ginny glancing back sadly in his direction. They made eye contact briefly and Harry saw in her eyes that she was not happy with who was at her side.

When Harry didn't respond to Ron's question, Hermione spoke up instead. "I don't mean to toot our own horns here, Harry..." Harry stifled a laugh at the thought of Hermione tooting Ron's horn. Boy, was he immature. Hermione seemed to notice his reaction and pressed on with a slight blush. "…But I think Ron and I have saved you emotionally more than a couple of times. And you've let us, despite it putting us in danger. Let Ginny do the same!"

Having sobered at her comments, Harry made his final statement. "I know. You two have been more to me than I could have ever thought possible just six years ago. And I can't ever thank you enough for it. But I can't do it again, not to her."

They boarded the train soon after, being the only two people that he gave a goodbye to.

-0-0-0-

They weren't even Death Eaters. That made it even more embarrassing, Harry supposed.

Dumbledore lay unconscious at his feet. He had fainted while removing the wards at Azkaban. Now Harry was left to his own devices to fend off several (Death) Snackers (dubbed proudly so by Harry)—witches and wizards aspiring to be Death Eaters—while trying to avoid grabbing the attention of the Death Eaters and Dementors at the prison not half a mile away.

The prison no longer held the guilty. Instead, with the Dementors having switched sides and fighting for Voldemort, the prison was used for Order and Ministry members who could not be controlled with the Imperius curse, but who might be useful to Voldemort later on in his war. They were kept alive, but only just.

Harry and Dumbledore had planned a rescue mission, but they did not know that Voldemort had put Snackers to work guarding the perimeter of the prison. Their timing was impeccable, arriving just as Dumbledore had fainted. It was the price of bringing down the wards, which Harry and Dumbledore _had_ factored into their plans as being a possibility. But now, Harry was fighting four wizards and a witch all on his own, trying to defend Dumbledore, all while trying not to make noise and attract _actual _dangers.

Harry quickly became frustrated with himself. He had fought Snackers on a few occasions already, and had never struggled with them as he did now. His spells did not carry the power that they normally did, and his mind was not as quick to react to the battle. _Something isn't right, _he thought angrily to himself.

Curse after curse struck their shields, causing no apparent damage or deterioration. It was odd. Meanwhile, his own shield was slowly beginning to cave under the constant bombardment of magic. He had to stay stationary to keep his shield in front of Dumbledore as well, and that certainly decreased his dueling ability. The two things Harry had going for him was that he had his back to a cliff edge, so the Snackers he faced would not be able to surround him, and second, they were relatively stupid enemies.

Even so, he felt his own power waning, and had only taken out one of his aggressors. Knowing he wouldn't be able to win this battle, he thought quickly and came up with a plan.

He waved his wand at Dumbledore and his wand, casting two spells. He studied the spells being hurled towards him, deciding which spells to shield against. He waited patiently for the right moment. Just as a low-powered stunner came at him, he waved his wand to cast one final charm.

The stunner hit him square in the chest, and Harry's vision faded to black.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks again for your wonderful reviews. There's just one last chapter coming soon, so I hope you're okay with this little cliffhanger! Let me know what you think/hope will happen in the last chapter!**

**Princess Luna of the NLR: **I'm glad you liked the bit of Nuna in there. Thanks for the great review, and I hope you like the last chapter next time!

**Guest: **I don't see Ginny dating other gits any time soon, but as you've read here, Harry is a bit of a git himself. Don't worry though, he'll figure it out soon enough!

**DanielWhite: **They are going to get together properly, don't worry! But getting together wouldn't be nearly as rewarding if they didn't struggle for it…

**Mystic Passion: **I think we see in this chapter that Harry is willing to do anything to keep Ginny safe and make her happy. He is a little misdirected, but his intentions are very pure.

**Mdauben: **Looks like they found out what each other feels, but just don't see eye to eye on what to do about it! Thanks for the review!

**MelGinnylover: **You make me blush…Thank you so much! And I do think Harry is a bit more confident than cannon, but not overly so. Like you said, I've tweaked cannon so that he's a bit more powerful and comfortable with his abilities. In addition, I think Rowling made Harry a very witty, capable character, but it gets hidden so often by the tremendous challenges he faces. I think I just chose to give that part of his personality a stronger voice.

**Darkryus: **You called it, they got over their pride, they admitted their feelings…and still nothing happened! What is wrong with this two? It's like it would take a Death Eater attack to make Harry realize what he needs to do…

**Guest: **You hit it on the head. Ginny's crazy about Harry, but it hurts too much to have him so close but out of reach! As for what you said about Harry's jealous side…hope you liked it!


	5. A Fool

Chapter Five: A Fool

* * *

"Understand your enemy," Dumbledore had always told him. "If you do, then you can foresee their every move."

As Harry awoke from the stunner he had let him, he thanked Dumbledore silently for that bit of wisdom. Harry knew his enemies well—their strengths, weaknesses, pride, idiocy.

On a prison island with anti-apparation wards in place, what was a group of Snackers to do with Voldemort's two most wanted men? There are a couple of options: Take them back to Azkaban prison half a mile away—but risk the Dementors taking credit for the capture or applying the Kiss before their Master had time to torture and interrogate them—or bind them and go to make the report to the Death Eaters on duty. Of course, each Snacker would want the glory for themselves during the report to the Death Eaters, so they would all want to return. That means the weakest, lowest rung on the ladder would be the one forced to stay behind and stand guard.

Snackers were not known for their magical ability or their brains. That's why they weren't Death Eaters, after all. Instead, Harry had the sneaking suspicion that when he was stunned by a weak stunner, none of the Snackers would bother to ensure he didn't wake up within a few minutes.

Harry kept his eyes closed as he tried to take in his surroundings without opening his eyes or moving. He heard a familiar crashing of waves behind and below him, which meant he had been left on the same cliff edge where they had just been fighting. Harry was on his side, his hands bound behind his back. Hearing just one set of footprints walking slowly back and forth, Harry decided to open his eyes a crack. Through the small opening, Harry could see Dumbledore's form similarly lying on the rocky ground. He could also see a single set of legs pacing back and forth in front of him.

Harry waited until those legs walked back and forth a few times to understand the pattern of the Snacker. Once he felt comfortable, Harry waited for the moment where the Snatcher walked right by his legs and Harry swung his leg mightily just under the man's knees, sending him to the ground, face first.

The man hit the ground with a large grunt and Harry quickly pulled his legs up and moved his bound hands from behind his back to the front of his body. Just as the Snacker was getting back to his feet, Harry leapt onto his own. Harry once again struck out with his foot as the man—who Harry noticed was balding quite spectacularly, but was attempting to cover it up with a comb-over—pulled out his wand. Harry kicked the wand free of the man's grasp. Comb-over turned to chase down his wand, but Harry clasped his already-bound hands together in a fist and swung his hands into the man's left kidney.

He fell to the ground, shouting in pain and clutching his lower back. Harry leapt over the man and chased down his wand. He quickly cast a cutting charm to break his bonds and then raced back to Comb-over, who was still lying on his stomach and rolling pitifully on the ground.

Kicking him in the ribs one last time for good measure, Harry flipped the Snacker over on his back. Harry quickly pulled the man's hands above his head and straddled him, pointing the wand in between the eyes of its owner. "How long have they been gone," Harry asked in as dangerous a voice as he could. Harry realized at that moment that he should probably practice his threatening voice in the mirror later, just to make sure it would spark the necessary fear in his enemies. The Snatcher seemed to think he didn't need much practice, though, as he trembled under Harry's weight and gaze.

"I don't know!" he whimpered. Harry pushed the tip of the wand into the man's forehead. "Four, maybe five minutes! Please don't hurt me!"

Harry rolled his eyes before casting a stunner at the man. At this close of a range, the stunner should last nearly an hour, even with the strange wand he held—though it felt more comfortable in his hand than he expected.

Harry glanced back at Dumbledore, who chose this moment to begin stirring. The Headmaster looked around him and took in his surroundings.

"We were attacked?" Dumbledore asked Harry, noticing marks in the ground where spells had hit from the battle and the Snacker lying unconscious on the ground next to Harry.

"Yea…terrible timing, really. Right when you dozed off, five…er…twenty Snackers showed up."

Sensing Harry's nonchalance, Dumbledore seemed to relax behind him. "You couldn't handle five Snackers?"

Harry huffed. "I was protecting your old arse. Besides, I didn't need to beat them…just outsmart them."

"So you got yourself tied up?" Dumbledore asked, no noticing the ropes on the ground that had held Harry.

"So little faith you have in me," Harry said, tsking. "Your wand should be disillusioned in your back pocket. I vanished mine before getting hit, so you should be able to summon it once you've got your…"

Harry didn't need to finish his sentence, as Dumbledore had already found his wand which Harry had hidden, vanished the ropes that held him bound, and summoned Harry's wand back from whatever dimension it had been hiding in. Harry pocketed the Snacker's wand and gladly held his own once more. Finally aware of the pain around his wrists, Harry cast a charm to sooth the pain and rubbed where the ropes had been.

Dumbledore waved his wand once more, and Comb-over's limp body straightened and rose into a standing position. Harry understood that Dumbledore didn't want to tip off the incoming army that they were free. Harry sat back down on the ground and placed his hands behind his back again as if he was still tied up. Dumbledore did the same.

"How much time do we have?" Dumbledore asked.

"This guy said five minutes. If it's a half mile there and another half mile back, my guess is five more minutes or so. They may bring some Dementors with them." Though Harry doubted Dementors would be coming for the same reason he doubted that the Snackers would take them back to Azkaban.

Dumbledore made a sound of agreement, but voiced what Harry was thinking, "Death Eaters will want this capture on their own, most likely. I suspect we'll have six or seven of them in addition to the…twenty Snackers, was it?"

Harry sighed. "It was five…and I don't understand why I couldn't take them. They weren't any more talented than the others I've faced. Sure I had to stay stationary, but that doesn't explain my lack of power and endurance."

Dumbledore was silent for a moment, considering Harry's plight. "Why are you here, Harry?" he finally asked.

Harry hesitated, unsure of what he was being asked. "Because I lost a dueling match?" he guessed.

"No…not tied up and on the ground. Why are you at Azkaban right now?"

Frowning and still confused, Harry took another shot in the dark. "To free some innocents who can help us in the war?"

"Okay," Dumbledore said. "And why do you want to win the war?"

Harry let out a long sigh. He had long gotten used to Dumbledore's vagueness and mind games. He no longer fought them, but played Dumbledore's game and looked forward to whatever revelation would enlighten him at the end. "To defeat Voldemort. To prevent pain and suffering throughout the land. To keep those I care about safe."

Dumbledore was silent for another moment. "And has any aspect of this purpose, _your purpose_, Harry, waivered as of late?"

"Are you asking if I want to prevent pain and suffering less, Professor? No. I want to stop it the same amount as I always have."

"And as for protecting those you care about?"

"Of course I still want to do that!"

"And who falls under this umbrella of special protection, Harry?"

"Well, my friends, certain students at Hogwarts, Remus, the Weasleys definitely. And Ron and Hermione." Harry was starting to feel attacked by the old man. How dare he imply that he cared for his friends any less?

"And what of Miss Weasley?"

Harry didn't respond immediately. Of course, Ginny! He hadn't said her name specifically because he didn't want Dumbledore thinking she deserved special treatment. And also because he couldn't bear the thought of needing to protect her specifically.

"I said the Weasleys…" Harry finally responded without much adamancy.

"You also said Ron by name," Dumbledore retorted.

"Yes, well, that's because…" Harry trailed off. "Why does it matter anyways?"

"Harry, wizards and witches have natural magic levels and abilities. You for instance have a great magical potential on your own. Miss Granger has also been gifted with a natural ability. But what most witches and wizards fail to grasp is that this basic ability is dwarfed by the potential that comes from purpose—be it fear, power, or the greatest of all, _love_.

"Voldemort had unmatched basic ability, Harry. But it was his initial fear that made his abilities emerge, and his later purpose of attaining all power that made him the most powerful wizard of all time. But what you have had up on him your whole life, Harry, has been your unmatched love for your friends."

Harry let his words sink in. It certainly made sense that one who was driven by powerful motives would become more powerful—and that magic itself obeyed that rule. Still, it didn't all connect. "So, what does this have to do with Ginny and why I couldn't defeat those Snackers that would have been easy targets just weeks ago?"

Dumbledore pondered for a moment. "Harry, that's something you will have to discover for yourself, for I cannot tell you who or how to love. I can surmise, however, that it is no coincidence that your drop in power _coincided_ with your emotional dismissal of Miss Weasley. Perhaps you were a fool to do what you did."

Harry wanted to retort that he hadn't emotionally rejected Ginny. That he still cared for her deeply, so much so that it hurt thinking about her so much. But his actions spoke much more loudly than his words would. And as much as he cared for her, he had refused to let her in. They, together, had never been able to create a more powerful motivation for him to carry in to battle. Instead of his love for his friends, his true motivation had turned into fear for his friends' safety—and that kind of purpose would not cut it against Lord Voldemort.

"Harry, there seem to be twelve figures approaching. Their surprise at us being able to attack will give us enough time to take out six of them. Make sure your stunners fly true, and then be ready to dodge the killing curse. Try to take out the Death Eaters first, who are much more capable of casting it."

Harry nodded before bowing his head to appear unconscious to the approaching villains. His mind was racing, and his heart began to swell as he began to think about his classmates, Remus and Tonks, the Weasleys, Ron and Hermione…and Ginny. He felt his focus shift from simply protecting them to desiring complete happiness for them—which included that he himself survive. He felt a new purpose driving him forward. In his mind's eye, he envisioned the same picture he had a couple of weeks earlier—Ginny happily married with children running around. This time, however, _Harry _was the husband that came home from work and greeted her with a kiss. He began to sense his magic pulsing through his body, and his fingers twitched with the anticipation of letting it out.

The approaching Death Eaters wouldn't know what hit them.

When they arrived a few moments later, Harry heard Dumbledore's hands lightly tapping the ground, giving the countdown. Three…Two…One…

The two wizards leapt to their feet, launching curse after curse at the surprised group of would-be assailants. Harry watched as his first stunner hit with shocking amount of power, sending the mask-toting Death Eater soaring several feet backwards before he rolled and slumped to the ground, not to wake for hours.

A second Death Eater received a similar fate, but had managed to raise his wand before falling into a deep sleep.

A third Death Eater was able to put up a shield, but Harry's powerful spell shattered right through it. Whether this was due to a poorly constructed shield made in a moment of fear and confusion or because Harry's curse was simply that powerful, Harry didn't know.

But, now that the six that Dumbledore had prophesied would fall had fallen, Harry decided to find out. The remaining six had put up shields and were about to strike. Harry shouted "_Confringo_," desiring the little extra power that would come from the verbal casting. A glorious blue emerged from his wand, heading for the feet of the Death Eaters and Snackers clumped together.

Either the Death Eaters didn't have time to put up a shield to Harry's spell, or they figured it would miss them and cause no problem, because they failed to protect themselves from the impending doom.

Harry's curse hit the ground, and a great _CRACK_ was heard and felt as the rock under their feet exploded. The metamorphic formation where the spell hit immediately turned to dust. However, in the fifteen foot radius around the impact, rocks flew every which way, sending the hapless six enemies (and six unconscious ones, too) soaring through the air from the force of the spell. Each of them was met by rocks during their flight and upon landing. Harry had thrown up his own shield along with Dumbledore to prevent any stray stones from hitting them. When the dust settled, Harry walked forward slowly into the carnage.

A shallow crater had formed, and Harry stepped down into it. He heard several moans from a few different directions, but wherever he turned, his enemies were incapacitated. After a quick inventory, Dumbledore learned that none had departed, though two needed immediate healing attention.

As Harry looked around in shock, Dumbledore made a pair of portkeys to send the injured back to headquarters for their medical team to look at. He then ensured that those remaining would not be attacking them again with various binding charms and hindering wards.

At last he turned to Harry and smiled softly at the boy, a twinkle in his eyes. "I assume you figured it out?"

Harry nodded silently. "Good," his mentor continued. "Then shall we proceed with the mission?"

Harry nodded silently once more and followed the old man towards the prison of Azkaban.

-0-0-0-

His body shivered, and he felt cold and clammy as he walked towards the Burrow. It was certainly a cold night, as snow fell peacefully around him, but that was not the cause for his discomfort. Instead, it was the lingering effects of the Dementors he had just spent the better part of his afternoon and evening around. It had not been pleasant, and he hoped that he and Dumbledore would be able to find a more permanent way to destroy the creatures in the future. But for the time being, keeping them at bay with Patroni, and consuming some chocolate afterwards would have to do.

The chocolate that Harry was now seeking, however, was not for eating. All he wanted was to look into Ginny's chocolate eyes and tell her everything. The warmth he sought was that of her embrace, and her kiss. And so he ignored his shivering hands and trembling lips, knowing that the cure was close by. He could deal with this discomfort for a while longer—but he could not delay telling Ginny what he felt.

Arriving at the lopsided home, Harry sent a single spark up at her window, nervously rubbing his hands together. He couldn't wait to see Ginny's face at the window, with a surprised look on her beautiful fa— "Harry?" came a strained and matronly voice.

"Bullocks," Harry said under his breath, realizing whose window he had actually signaled. "Hey Mrs. Weasley…could you come let me in?"

Fighting down a blush, he waited as his surrogate mother left her bedroom and walked to the door, asked a few test questions, and then let him inside, worriedly.

"What is the matter? Why have you come here? Not that you aren't welcome, Harry, Dear…it's just that I wasn't expecting you, of course. Oh you are shivering! You must be so cold! Come into the kitchen, Dear…"

Mrs. Weasley continued to ramble about the dangers of being out so late as she bustled around the kitchen, making a cup of hot chocolate for him. Harry had to admit that as unfortunate as his wrong-window blunder had been, this was the next best thing to holding Ginny in his arms at the moment.

He sipped some hot chocolate and felt his entire body warm up and relax. Mrs. Weasley, now content that he was feeling better, actually gave him time to respond to her most urgent question. "What are you doing here, Dear?" she asked, kindly.

Harry took another sip of his drink before he addressed her. "Well, Mrs. Weasley…you see, I was with Dumbledore tonight…and…" Harry trailed off as he heard a fortuitous distraction behind him.

"Mum?" came her voice as she walked down the stairs. Ginny appeared in view, dressed in her pajamas and her hair slightly mussed up, but still looking as beautiful as ever. "Oh…hi Harry…"

Harry didn't realize that he had stood up from his chair at the table and could not take his eyes off of her. He had completely forgotten what he had been saying to Mrs. Weasley, or even that she was in the room.

She cleared her voice and spoke softly. "Well, Harry, Dear...I'll set up a bed for you in Ron's room, then. You'll head straight up there in a few minutes?"

Harry finally tore his gaze from Ginny to look at Mrs. Weasley. Ginny had either told her quite a bit, or this woman was intuitive in noting that he and Ginny needed a few moments together. He nodded to her and said, "Of course, Mrs. Weasley. Thank you."

The woman walked past Ginny, and up the stairs, looking back only once, curiously. Ginny walked forward slowly and Harry met her halfway. The Burrow was still and calm around them, with Mrs. Weasley's footsteps fading in the distance.

"What are you doing here, Harry?"

Harry smiled softly before responding sarcastically. "It's nice to see you, too, Gin."

Ginny didn't smile. "No. You don't get to do this anymore…" She shook her head and looked at her feet. "I can't do this anymore, Harry. We both screwed things up, and I don't want to keep hurting myself here. Things have changed, and you know it…"

Harry reached forward and grabbed her shoulders, willing her to look in his eyes. He never wanted to hear that she was getting hurt again.

"You were wrong, you know," he said. When she just looked confusedly back at him, he continued. "When you said the plan was foolproof."

Ginny frowned. "Well, I guess I didn't realize just how foolish we could be…" She looked back at him pointedly.

"Yes…well, I was wrong, too. You asked me if I thought it was a good idea for you to end our fake relationship. I said that I didn't know what you should do. You then gave me another chance a couple days later, and I _again_ decided to be an idiot."

She stayed silent, urging him to keep speaking with her eyes. There was hope in them, but reservation, too.

"I knew bloody well what you should've done three weeks ago when our relationship ended. It just took a little reflection in Azkaban for me to realize what is important in my life, Ginny. Up until six hours ago, I was convinced that I needed to distance myself from you in order to defeat Voldemort. That I needed to focus entirely on that goal.

"Now, I realize that without your love, I can't possibly do it. Without loving you, I won't have the purpose to get the job done." He released her shoulder and his hand cradled her face. She leaned into his touch. "Without the hope of coming home to you, Ginny, I won't stand a chance against that monster."

Harry began to lean forward, and he whispered to her. "Give me something to fight for, Ginny. Give me a reason to end this and survive. I need that. I need you…"

Ginny closed the few inches remaining between the two of them and kissed him desperately. He could feel all of her emotion pouring into him: her fears and insecurity about where she stood with him; her hopes and dreams about where she could be with him; her love for him. She was giving herself to Harry, unreserved and unguarded. She was giving him the ultimate reason to fight and win. He would have to, because he could never hurt her again.

And the experience was infinitely better than the hot chocolate had been just minutes earlier.

They pulled back and stared deeply into each other's eyes. Harry spoke first. "I love you Ginny Weasley."

Ginny's breath caught before she whispered back.

"What were you doing in Azkaban?"

Silence filled the room as Harry contemplated her response to his declaration of love. "Really, Ginny?" He asked, pulling back slightly, and his jaw dropping a fraction. "That's what you say to me?"

Ginny nodded, acting as though nothing were the matter. "Well, you caught me off guard when you said you were in Azkaban and I was curious what you were doing there. I couldn't exactly interrupt while you were ramping up to your conclusion, now could I?"

"So instead you interrupted the actual moment I was ramping up to? Let's try this again," Harry said, exasperated. He tried to readopt his serious tone. "I love you Ginny Weasley."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I love you, Harry Potter. As if I would need to say at this point…"

"Well, that could use some work…but I guess it will do for now." Harry smiled at the girl in front of him and lightly kissed her lips once more.

-0-0-0-

"You were wrong, you know…"

Hermione looked up from her book, across the fire in the Gryffindor common room, her eyes meeting Harry's. He lay on the same couch he had been in when Ginny came in complaining about hormonal boys months earlier. This time, however, he held her in his arms as she drew circles in his left palm. "How was I wrong?" Hermione asked.

"You said _one_ of two outcomes would happen," Harry responded. "_Either_ we'd realize our love for each other _or_ we'd destroy our friendship. Both of them happened."

"You're right about destroying your friendship," Hermione said. "But my other possible outcome was more specifically, 'the relationship becomes real in some dramatic and beautiful way.'"

"Okay," Harry responded. "So both happened. You were wrong."

Hermione shook her head. "You may have covered the dramatic aspect, Harry, but it was not beautiful, the way you made the relationship real."

Ginny shook her head. "I don't know, Hermione. It was pretty great to me." Harry smiled and thanked Ginny for her support.

"Oh please, Ginny. You're clearly biased because of how happy that night made you. He woke up your mother instead of you!"

Ginny deflated in Harry's arms. "Oh, that is true. That certainly wasn't beautiful."

"You told her about that?" Harry asked, surprised and a little betrayed. "Look, it was late…and I was kind of out of it from my battle with Dementors…"

"Not helping your case, Harry," Hermione responded dryly. "Bringing up Dementors is not a beautiful thing."

"What do you mean? That's romantic, right? Coming from death and despair to my brightest light and hope? It simply demonstrates how desperately I needed her that I sent the sparks to the wrong window." He stroked Ginny's hair gently. He loved the way the fire made it shimmer with different shades of red. Ginny tried to make up her mind about who she agreed with more.

Instead, it was Ron who butted in. "Well, I don't think any of this is beautiful. Right disgusting, this is."

This seemed to push Ginny over the edge. "Well, that makes it beautiful!" she exclaimed. "Sorry, Hermione. You were wrong."

Hermione gave it a second thought before agreeing. "You're right. If Ron thinks it's disgusting, then it's likely pretty beautiful."

"Hey!" Ron shouted indignantly. "I resent that. I know how to be romantic."

The other three common room occupants burst into laughter. Trying to control his fits of laughter, Harry managed to get out, "Good one, Ron!"

He slumped in his armchair, folding his arms in front of him and scowled. "I knew you loved my sister before you did, mate. That's got to count for something."

Harry knew he could immediately turn that argument right back on Ron. After all, he knew that Ron loved Hermione and wasn't doing a thing about it. But, he wouldn't embarrass Ron again like that. Not after the support he had given him through the whole charade.

"You're right, Ron," Harry admitted. "And what an idiot I was for ignoring what was right in front of me this whole time."

Ginny turned her head to look up at him. "You'd better make it worth the wait."

He smiled back at her. "I'd be a fool not to."

* * *

**A/N: Well, thanks everyone for a great time. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this, and I hope you had fun, too. I've got a couple other story ideas bouncing around in my head that haven't quite materialized yet. Maybe a few reviews will give me the added encouragement necessary to get them written…**

**DanielWhite: **Right you are!

**Darkryus: **They are morons, but looks like they figured it out.

**Turquoiserainlilies: **I'm glad you liked it. Hope you enjoyed the last chapter!

**Princess Luna of the NLR: **Thank you! I certainly don't mind the complements…

**Mystic Passion: **Hope this last chapter continued the trend of improving chapters. Thanks for your review!

**MelGinnylover:** I'm glad you enjoyed the relationship and entendres aspects of the story. I hope I gave a little redemption to the action portion. I kind of cut it off before it got going, really, to give a cliffhanger. Anyways, thanks for being a great reviewer, and I hope you liked the story now that it's all done!

**Slincoln: **I'm so glad you caught the Archer nod! I've tried to give this story a tone where my referencing Aragorn, Inception, and Archer are not out of place but are just fun punch lines instead. I don't know if you feel the same way, but that's what I was going for. A standard Romcomy feel yes, but hopefully you enjoyed the ride. Phrasing…


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